Butch Bellah - Speaker | Trainer | Author

5 Tips For Hiring New Salespeople

5 Tips For Hiring New Salespeople

No matter how strong your team may be today, there will be a time when you are tasked with adding new salespeople. You’ll have to decide where to advertise, how to advertise along with several other variables that make the job harder than it should be.

With that in mind here are a few tips for hiring new salespeople. Tips that will save you time, energy and hopefully keep you from hiring something less than a superstar.

Create a profile

Some call it an avatar when discussing an ideal customer, but either way you need to decide on paper and in your mind’s eye what you’re looking for. What skills do they possess? What are you willing to teach? What must they already have? This requires taking time to go through and think about industry experience, degrees and all those things you’re going to list in your job description.

Don’t start with ads

My friends in the newspaper industry may not like to hear this, but I strongly advise against “help wanted” ads. Generally the only people reading them are out-of-work…and many of them are unemployed for a reason. Think instead about you seeking out who you want. Instead of making the job the hunted, you be the hunter.

Solicit success

Using networking, social media, LinkedIn or whatever means you’re comfortable with, find people who fit your original profile. See what they’re doing today. Just because they’re employed doesn’t mean they’re off limits (unless they are from within your industry and have a non-compete agreement). Don’t be afraid to contact them with details of the job to gauge their interest in joining your team.

Be patient

No matter what you do, you’re going to get resumes from people who don’t meet your criteria in any way, shape or form. In fact, they have no business whatsoever applying for the job. Sadly, many people’s strategy is to just apply to everything and see what sticks and you are the one who gets to sift through that stack of paper.

Work in phases

If you start with a large pool, make the first cut down to a manageable number. Review those resumes and then make another cut after you’ve gone through them a second time. If someone stands out to you through both steps, they’re worth interviewing.

There you have five tips I hope will save you some time, energy and money. It’s great to add new talent to your team—it’s an exciting process. But, make sure you control it and don’t let it control you.